Valentine's Day Surprise
by butterfly collective
Summary: This takes place a few months after "Glimmer of Twlight" and about a year before "Mustang Madness". What are Matt and C.J. to do on Valentine's Day. He wants to celebrate. She doesn't...just borrowing the characters for fun.
1. Chapter 1

C.J. hated her new cast.

She thought she'd dodged at least one bullet during the past several months of her life spent on the run. But no, the broken wrist that she thought had healed properly hadn't pleased the doctor very much so he referred her to an orthopedic surgeon who had done x-rays and other tests.

He'd wanted to re break the wrist and then set it again.

"I don't have to be awake for that do I?"

He'd shaken his head and then had the nurse assist her in setting up a date for the surgery. She'd been back in Houston only a week trying to get the house all fixed up for living there for the undetermined future. Matt's father had owned it and several others but since his death, they'd been handed over to Matt but since like her, he'd lived in L.A. he'd leased them out. The family who occupied this one had moved out a year ago and it'd been left vacant.

Just perfect for her because she had no plans to go back to L.A. any time soon. She couldn't even think about going back to where it happened. Getting out of her car in the parking garage at Houston Enterprises' LA headquarters….the thought made her nauseous. That and the fact that she'd also set up an appointment with one of the best trauma therapists in that part of the country cemented the deal for her. She'd grown up just outside of Houston and besides, she had Rhonda, Fran and Chris and her husband living in town too.

The wrist was repaired in a couple hours and the surgeon cast it with some lightweight material. But she hated it anyway. She'd wanted to get back into her physical fitness regime she'd adopted that kept her lean and mean on the run. Now, she couldn't do much but ride a stationary bike or god, one of those stair masters for three more weeks.

Her shrink might tell her that she hated the cast so much because it allowed her to avoid everything else she hated. She didn't know how she felt about that or anything really…the pace she'd lived under with Matt the past few months had been so damned intense right up to the moment that Andre Duval had died on the rocky shore of Sapphire Island.

She'd watched it, the decision being taken out of her hands but there'd been other deaths too. Too many other deaths.

She sat up in bed, just wearing her tee-shirt and some PJ bottoms wanting to get up and go running before the sun rose over the city. But as soon as she opened her eyes, she remembered the damn cast. She heard some noise coming from the kitchen and smiled. Matt had gotten up earlier than her from where he stayed in the guest room and had gotten in his 5 or 10 mile run of course and now was making them both omelets.

Time to get up; she had a damn therapy appointment after all. Then she'd be joining Chris and Rhonda for lunch at that Tex-Mex place that Rhonda had frequented with a certain U.S. Marshal…well formal Marshal anyway as Jonathan had submitted his resignation to leave the agency not long after she and Matt returned from Miami. Rhonda didn't know whether she wanted to get mixed up with Jonathan mostly due to his propensity for traveling a lot and relocating…but if he quit the agency then that part of his life was over and maybe he'd settle down in one place.

He could do much worse than Texas and C.J. knew that her ex-boyfriend from years ago had found something special with her close friend who deserved all the happiness she could find. She got out of bed and padded into the kitchen. Matt looked up at her from where he cracked some eggs into the skillet.

"Morning…"

"Morning Houston…I see you got your run in."

He nodded.

"Three more weeks…C.J…you'll make it."

She didn't know about that, every fiber inside her wanted to just take off and run for miles and miles until she'd lost that edge that she carried with her or at least tempered it.

"I'll add some of those new chilies," he said, "the ones you want to grow."

She smiled and went to go get some orange juice from the frig to go with breakfast. They'd just gone shopping last night stocking her up for a while. He'd be leaving to go back to L.A. soon enough as he'd nearly fully recovered from his own injuries. He had work and a life waiting him there though he seemed reluctant to leave. His whole attitude towards her had changed, she noticed because she knew him so damn well but she didn't know how she felt about that. Too much had happened to her, she still hadn't made sense of it or how she'd live with it.

Just one day at a time was what Diane had told her when they last talked. C.J. hadn't wanted to get a therapist but sometimes she felt like she'd jump out of her skin…certain sounds and smells..and the nightmares. She hadn't ever been able to hide them from Matt including that they'd intensified after her escape, the death of the man who had caused them.

Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, or PTSD, the therapist called it. She'd certainly heard of that because Matt had it at various times of his own eventful life. When he'd been a child after being kidnapped for ransom and later on, when he'd been in a war zone and lost his cousin, Will. Speaking of which, Will had been in intensive therapy since he'd been "found" over a year ago so if she needed anyone to talk to about it, they were all around her.

Matt made the omelets and slid them onto plates and she had popped bread in the toaster to add to their meal. They took their plates and juice to the breakfast where the sunlight steamed through the window.

"What are you doing today?"

Matt dug his fork into the omelet.

"I'm going to drop by Houston Enterprises and meet with Chris and Murray about some new directions to take the company…for the foundation. Fran's going to meet us and she'll take some of the ideas back."

"That sounds great…I'm so glad she took the director's position," C.J. said, "I wasn't sure she'd do it."

"Me neither…but she's the best person for it," Matt said, "It just took her a little while to figure that out."

C.J. sipped her juice.

"She knew it deep inside her Houston…she's just had a hard life. A lot of the men in it beginning with her father betrayed her and she'd been in and out of jail before she reached Bannon County lockup."

They both knew her history but they also knew that Fran had gone back to school, got her GED and had been taking college courses when she wasn't working at the women's crisis center and she'd met a nice guy in Carlos. Much different than most of the men she'd known, Fran had been distrusting of him at first but had gradually melted.

"Then I'll probably do a conference call with Roy at lunch," he said, "He's busy trying to hire a couple investigators…Hoyt's given him some candidates off the retirement list but I don't think we need anyone else."

"Houston…maybe it's not a bad idea," she said, "The work must have piled up because even Roy couldn't focus on it much and you're just recovering from your own injuries."

He forked another bite into his mouth.

"I'm fine now…and when I go back next week…"

She just looked at her plate not wanting to think about that. But it was for the best, she'd grown so dependent, too dependent on him the past few months. It'd been about her very own survival and not just her freedom but…she'd always been wary of getting too reliant on anyone especially a man. After losing her father so young…it'd taught her not to let anyone get too close…not even her best friend in the whole world.

"It's about time…you've got a whole life there."

He didn't say anything but she knew what he thought anyway. That she'd had a whole life there too…but not anymore.

"I'm going to miss you…"

She knew that too, and how much she'd miss him but she had to build her own life back piece by piece on her own. That's the way she'd always done it…as little as she'd allowed people inside. There had been few of those people but one of them sat across from her.

"I'll miss you too," she said, "but we'll still see each other. It's not much of a plane hop."

Though she didn't tell him that she didn't know when if ever she'd return to L.A. though she knew she'd be able to muster enough for a visit right?

"Besides you're still here for another week…"

He smiled at that and reached his hand out to stroke the back of one of her hands, in a way that she'd always liked. Those little ways of touching that she still felt.

"Yeah and guess what today is?"

She furrowed her brow trying to remember…and finally gave up.

"What?"

He smiled more widely.

"Valentine's Day…"

Oh god, she'd forgotten that the world moved forward without her…she'd felt that time had been frozen at least for her for so long…but that meant holidays…she'd missed a few to spend with him. They'd been a blur really…but now they returned.

"Oh that…"

She didn't know what else to say. She didn't really want to think about what the holiday meant…something lost to her perhaps forever. There was no way to come back from where she'd been after all.

"Yeah that…I thought we'd do something later on…go to dinner…"

She nodded, that seemed safe enough…they were still best friends after all.

"Okay…I'll have some time later today…what about you?"

He nodded and they got up to clear the dishes away, but inwardly she wondered how was she going to survive Valentine's Day?

She'd have to figure out a way but she had some time to do it.


	2. Chapter 2

Matt drove to Houston Enterprises headquarters in downtown and parked in the garage. It had been reconstructed after the explosion had ripped it apart months ago. He hadn't been there when it happened and for once he hadn't been the target. It had been his former friend Scott Prescow who had been targeted by Duval who had anticipated his betrayal.

Prescow had survived several attempts on his miserable life and was locked up under protective custody in a federal holding facility awaiting trial. Chris' husband, Dan who had been badly hurt in that explosion instead had fully recovered from his injuries and had been working hard to make his security firm a success. He'd asked Matt to work with him and Matt had been tempted by the offer to partner in but he still had his own agency and life back in L.A.

Only he found himself trying to make excuses not to go back to that life. He had stayed in Houston to recover from his injuries and had stayed with C.J. They'd spent the past couple months on the run together hiding out in different corners of the world. Been through so much more in those months than they had in their lives…not that it had been easy with the danger that pursued them and the demons that haunted the woman who was his closest friend…

The woman he loved more than any other, something he'd figured out a lot later than he should have done. He'd been on his way back to L.A. to tell her that before all hell broke loose.

After parking his car, he walked to the elevator and took it to the office where Chris waited for him with a stack of briefs for them to review with Murray. They had to file a bunch of paperwork in court tying in with a couple patents on products created by one of their subsidiary companies. A couple of hours of work and then he'd take his conference call.

"I think this is the worst of it," Chris said, "You want some coffee?"

He nodded and she got him some of that Espresso in a cup before Murray walked into join them with his own stack of files. Between the two of them, Matt felt he'd been traveling light.

Murray sighed heavily.

"We'd better get started."

And so they did, going through each file in each stack with a fine tooth comb…Matt really didn't have any questions but listened as both Chris and Murray presented the strong points alongside the weaknesses.

Matt paid attention to most of it but he found his thoughts returning to C.J. He knew that she had one of her sessions with the therapist and that she'd been a little on edge this morning because of it. He'd been through intensive counseling himself to deal with traumatic incidents in his life. His father had made it clear to him that looking for help didn't make him ineffective or weak and he always would have him his support.

He knew a little of what she was going through, how emotions could turn so quickly on a dime from happiness to intense fear, not to mention flashbacks that popped up unexpectedly and dreams that haunted at night. He knew all about the isolation and did all he could to let her know he was right there with her but he knew that there were integral parts of healing she had to do on her own.

"Houston…we're almost done."

He blinked his eyes and saw Chris smiling at him.

"Oh…sorry…"

She shrugged, picking up some files.

"It's all right," she said, "It's Valentine's Day after all, so I think more than a few minds are elsewhere."

He smiled back at her.

"You and Dan doing anything special…?"

She nodded.

"Dinner and dancing at the Marina…what about you…?"

He sipped his coffee.

"C.J and I thought we'd try that new barbecue place."

She nodded.

"Yes… I heard it's great," she said, "You should go out and have some fun. It's been an intense few weeks."

Matt looked at his cup.

"I know…"

"When you heading back?"

He paused.

"Next week…"

Chris put one of her hands on top of Matt's.

"She'll be okay…she's got us," she said, "and we're all looking after her."

He sighed.

"It's tough to go back but I've got a lot waiting for me," he said, "Uncle Roy and Will have been working hard keeping up with the workload and handling the cases…"

"Just don't be a stranger Matt," she said, "We all miss you out here."

He picked up his empty coffee cup and tossed it in the trash before they both left the conference room.

* * *

C.J. arrived at the restaurant to meet up with Chris and Rhonda. She'd been able to drive with her cast but she felt drained from her therapy appointment. Diane had her go through her history and she'd struggled with talking about her father's death and didn't know why.

She'd come to terms with it years ago even though she never completely stopped missing him…and her mother. But when she'd gotten to the part of talking about his death in a car bomb explosion, she had frozen and been transported back to when she'd been a little girl whose daddy didn't come home one day. Her mother fighting back her own tears as she tried to explain it to her in words she'd understand.

The permanence of it took longer to set in.

Diane had been patient until she found her words and continued her story but why had she stumbled a part of her life she put behind her? She knew it had to be a way of not thinking about her more recent past. But Diane had told her that there was no rush to talk about anything. She wanted them to start building a foundation first beginning in childhood.

But it had gotten off to a rough start. Now she just wanted to forget about it and relax with her friends. Actually she wanted to put on a pair of running shoes and take off to do her 10 miles like she had on the island. Instead she parked her car and walked up to the entrance of the restaurant.

Chris and Rhonda were laughing at the table when she walked in. She slid in the booth next to Chris. They both looked at her.

"How'd it go?"

C.J. sipped from her water glass.

"It went…Diane's really nice but I'm not sure I'm good at this."

Rhonda smiled.

"You'll do fine…it's always rough in the beginning but after you start to relax, it'll help you…to talk about it."

C.J. supposed she was right, she just didn't feel like it right now, but there were areas of her life she couldn't touch right now.

"So what are you both doing for Valentine's Day?"

Anything to change the subject and both women brightened. Chris smiled.

"I'm going out with Dan to the Marina," she said, "We…you know…we've been trying to start a family…"

Rhonda nodded her approval.

"You'll have great kids…Jonathan's flying in later and we're just going to hang out together at my place."

C.J. smiled.

"That sounds like a plan."

"What about you," Rhonda asked, "you and Matt?"

C.J. paused.

"He wants to go out to dinner but I'm not sure…"

Chris glanced at Rhonda.

"You should go C.J. You'll have a great time," she said, "You always do together when life gives you both a chance…"

C.J. rubbed the back of her neck.

"I do want to go…but the whole holiday…it's about romance isn't it?"

Rhonda shrugged.

"Not necessarily," she said, "It's about all kinds of love including friendship."

Chris nodded.

"Yeah and you've been best friends forever right?"

C.J. knew that she'd loved Matt more than anyone else but still…but she knew how much he'd wanted to spend time with her before he left to go back to L.A.

She didn't want him to leave but knew she couldn't ever tell him that…so what could she tell him instead?


	3. Chapter 3

Diane had just looked at her as C.J. had tried to gather her thoughts together. They were all in a jumble and that didn't even begin to tap into her feelings. Sometimes they all rose to the surface from someplace deep inside of her at once and she didn't know which would erupt first. Anger that could border on rage in a flash and fear that could paralyze her at anytime. Frustration at being unable to harness either one of them, so she could at least look normal to the outside world…and the others that were more fleeting like happiness and joy she couldn't hold onto long enough.

She'd been taking medication for the PTSD because Diane had explained to her that would be part of the treatment to address the rewiring of her brain that had occurred while she'd been held captive and even after she'd freed herself. If it hadn't done that, she'd not been able to keep herself alive as long as she had even with Matt and others helping her. The danger was that the part of herself fighting to live might be overwhelmed by the greater part of her that wanted to escape it even through death.

Not that even in her darkest moments she'd ever had suicidal thoughts but Diane worried that when the therapy grew more intense that she might be at greater risk.

"It'll be very intense because that's what it'll take to deal with what happened to you," Diane explained, "but I think you have a great reserve of strength inside of you and it'll come to great use when you need to tap into it."

C.J. listened to her but she hadn't been to therapy before so she didn't know what to expect. Matt had told her his father had sought help for him from a psychologist after his traumatic kidnapping and then when he thought he'd lost Will…well C.J. and his father had teamed up to get him to talk to an expert about it because they'd been so damn scared of losing him.

She'd seen how closely he'd been to the edge a few times because Matt felt things so passionately yet kept his more troubling emotions close to his chest like most men did. But then she did that too, because she told herself she didn't want people to fret over her or worry about her.

"It's going to exhaust you sometimes and you'll need to give yourself a break and rest," Diane said, "I can already tell you're going to have some trouble doing that."

C.J. had to smile because she knew the doctor was right. No rest and relaxation didn't come easily to her when she wanted so much to achieve a goal and she wanted to win at this one…to get her life back the way it'd been even as much as breathing.

But she had looked at Chris and Rhonda, talking and laughing about their lives, their men that they shared them with and she felt the isolation that had grown more familiar. That she was on the outside of the world looking inside at it.

About Valentine's Day for example, the holiday she had forgotten fell today. Until Matt reminded her and she had been ambushed with images of past years spent celebrating it either with her boyfriend or just going out with friends for dinners to celebrate singlehood.

Carl had dressed up in a tux and tails and she like a princess to go to a cotillion at the Music Ebell Theater. She'd been so happy on the dance floor with him, their hands resting on each other as they moved across the dance floor. He'd been a great dancer…she'd been trying and it had seemed almost magical…but then sadness like shards of glass had hit her suddenly because it had been his last Valentine's Day.

Then there had been Joshua the narcotics detective who had just gotten off of work still wearing his undercover uniform of faded blue jeans, a black tee-shirt and of course hoop earrings. He'd taken her to eat at a diner and then a move at an old drive-thru and she remembered making out with him in the front seat better than what was on the screen.

Joshua had gotten promoted to sergeant and had wound up getting married to a woman who gave him two little girls that he adored.

Stone had been a mountain climber who ran a business that helped Matt hone his skills in that area for a case. She'd spent a month camping with Stone including sharing a sleeping bag under the stars and they'd been holed in snow cave during a storm eating power bars and sipping hot cocoa relying on the fire and body heat to keep them comfortable. He'd closed down his business when his father died and ran a similar one in Oregon with his three brothers.

So she'd had fond memories including the time she and Chris had gone out after her friend had broken up with Lance and drank tequila at a jazz club.

But now they all seemed so distant like they never happened, like she'd imagined the past chapters of her life…before Andre Duval. Maybe she should cancel her dinner with Matt though if she tried to do that he'd want to know why and she didn't want to get into it.

Therapy was the place for that, to compartmentalize what in her life needed fixing. The rest of the time she wanted to be normal…though looking down at the damn cast that served as a reminder made that difficult.

She went to the gym to do what workout she could do with a busted wrist. That meant time in spinning class and with some of the weights. She had to keep her body strong, herself agile and fast so that if anything happened…

Even with Andre dead and gone there were others including the one who had claimed her for her own, the man without a face. His tattoo had marred her shoulder and nearly killed her. The feds including Jonathon had no further information on this shadowy figure who they figured wasn't hiding away in a cave somewhere but in plain sight.

Some men checked her out because she struck an attractive figure in her workout gear but she didn't pay attention to them. When she focused on her training she was someplace else.

* * *

Matt sat back at the office that he shared with Dan since he'd been helping him on a new security system that was being designed by his firm. He'd been asking Matt for quite a while to work with him and to become his business partner. But Matt knew he had his investigative agency waiting for him back in L.A. Roy had been overseeing it along with Will who picked up skills quickly but the cases had been piling up and people no doubt were wondering if it had gone under.

He felt torn right now and he didn't know what to do about it. He knew he had to go back, he had a life waiting for him but with C.J. staying here…he didn't want to leave. She had everything she needed, a house to live in and a therapist who was one of the top experts at PTSD not to mention some consulting work with the feds…on top of the work she needed to do to help them build a case to take to trial against the surviving members of Andre's trafficking operation.

Scott Prescow had been sitting in jail and Matt just wanted him to rot inside of it. His former college buddy had betrayed them all by working for Duval and had proven instrumental in C.J. winding up his prisoner.

Matt had wanted to kill him with his bare hands for that, to make him suffer as she had…as she still did now from what had happened to her. But he knew if he'd done that he'd wind up in jail leaving C.J. vulnerable to the man who still hunted her not to mention to her own demons churning up inside of her.

She downplayed them but he knew they lived inside her. He'd been there himself more than once and if it hadn't been for the people who mattered most to him, he'd have lost himself forever. But C.J. and his father…they'd done some tough love if that's what it took to get him help.

He wanted to do the same for her but she seemed reluctant to let anyone inside enough to do that. Even though she hadn't been able to hide the nightmares that ripped her from sleep…he'd rushed into her bedroom enough times to wrap his arms around her shaking body enough, feeling the dampness of her skin against his own.

But she'd never wanted to talk about what happened by morning.

The phone rang and he picked it up seeing it was his cousin Will back in L.A. which seemed like a world away now.

"Hi Will…what's up?"

"Not much cuz, Dad and I are about to head out," he said, "We finished updating one batch and thought we'd head to the beach for lunch."

"The weather's that nice?"

"Yeah but what do you expect in sunny California? Besides it's Valentine's Day and neither of us have dates. You got plans?"

Matt paused.

"C.J. and I are going out to this barbecue place," he said, "Supposed to be the best in town."

"How's she been doing?"

Matt sighed.

"She's been working at it really hard but she doesn't talk about it much."

"I know the feeling," Will said, "I don't feel like talking about that decade of my life either…I talk with the therapist and then I put it aside for a while. People look at you differently when they know you've survived a horrific experience."

"Yeah I know that," Matt said, "I just hope that the therapy's helping her. I got to leave in a week to head on back and I'm not sure I should leave her."

"You mean you don't want to leave her."

Matt paused again.

"That too…."

He had told Will that he'd realized he'd been in love with C.J. when he'd been out wandering the world, not knowing what had happened to her in the meantime.

"It might be what you both need…I knew when I was in her shoes, I needed some space to work on myself," Will said, "but you might want to schedule in some visits too…because I know that despite all that's happened and what it's done to her, she loves you a lot too."

Matt smiled on his end because he knew that. But he knew that if he wanted her that way that meant forever, he had to be patient and in it for the long haul…because she'd need time as much as she'd need space.

"Well you have a good time cuz with her," Will said, "and don't worry about the business. It's doing just fine and I think I might give this investigation deal a try myself."

That pleased Matt because he'd been so worried about Will for so long and he felt like his cousin had just begun to turn the corner when all this had happened.

"I'll talk to you later…"

He clicked his phone off and put it down thinking about how he'd make this a special holiday for the woman he loved who still needed him as her best friend.


	4. Chapter 4

C.J. sat in her office after returning from her workout at the gym. Jack who worked as a trainer there helped push her through her paces. He put her on the dreaded Stairmaster to get her to burn off some of her excess energy before putting her on the weight machines. She'd do circuit training when the cast came off, five minutes of intense cardio intermixed with strength and flexibility training exercises. In her experience this regimen resulted in the best overall fitness.

Cut to the bone and it made her lean and mean, which is what she wanted so that no one would ever get the jump on her again. But until the cast came off, she felt that Jack coddled her and she didn't much like being coddled. Just another issue she'd have to work out in therapy if she chose…and right now with so many of them it hadn't made the list. So if anyone coddled her now, she'd cut them off at the quick.

Kyra knew that about her already being the same way herself. C.J. knew her assistant in training had survived a difficult life which started with an abusive childhood and nearly ended with her selling her body on the streets of Miami, New Orleans and then Houston to survive. They got along very well from the start though it didn't mean they didn't clash a time or too, both having an intense dislike for the same things.

"You tired from working out?"

C.J. just looked at Kyra as she went to get a bottled water from the mini frig. She drank it down pretty much in one swallow.

"Nah…barely warmed up," she said, "Jack treats me like a baby."

Kyra oozed fake sympathy.

"Bless your heart…I hoped you kicked his ass."

C.J. shrugged, tossing the empty bottle in the recycling bin.

"Next time…damn I hate this thing," she said, "Bad to wear it once and then the damn surgeon breaks it again just because it wasn't perfectly straight."

Kyra shook her head.

"Looks crooked now," she said, "He might have to do it again."

C.J. grimaced at the thought and then sat down on the chaise.

"Get any calls?"

Kyra sighed.

"Tons…you're one popular girl. That asshole Simon called again. You working some cases with him?"

C.J. nodded.

"A couple…I got them last time I went to talk to Craig that baby prosecutor with DOJ. It's better than sitting around at home…everyone thinking I'm so damn fragile I'll break."

Kyra shot her a knowing look.

"We both know different don't we?"

C.J. thought about that and how she sometimes missed the part of herself that had been soft and unyielding. Oh she'd always had her sassy side, a touch of wildness that attracted men in droves whether she wanted it or not. But at some point when she'd been 21, she attracted a very bad man and she still didn't know how.

It'd been partly looks. She resembled the bad man's mother but it hadn't been just that. She'd crossed eyes with the bad man at a party when she'd first arrived in Boston to go to Harvard Law School.

"Yes we do….What are you doing for V day?"

Nicely changing the subject. Kyra paused to look at her and then smiled.

"I think I'm going to stay home and curl up with a good book," she said, "One sweet and romantic like Danielle Steel."

That sounded like a plan to C.J.

"What about you?"

C.J. shrugged.

"I'm going to hit the barbecue spot with Houston…last chance at dinner before he heads home."

Kyra pursed her lips.

"Going back to L.A. and that exciting lifestyle of his…Oh he looked much better in the flesh than he did in the magazines. Less of a ladies' man than I thought."

C.J. looked at her good hand. Meaning the not so broken one, just the one that had silvery lines interlacing her fingers and etched in the palm of her hand.

"He's been too busy to go out dating," she said, "That'll change when he goes back to L.A."

Kyra plopped into a chair near the chaise.

"I don't think so. I think he's going to miss you."

"Yeah maybe…but the last few months were so damn intense…he was more than I ever thought he could be even though I knew him…but he needs to get back into his life…back with his nice beach house, his cars and his social life."

"I still think he'll miss you," Kyra said, "You should do something special tonight…for V day."

C.J. immediately felt herself retreat. She hadn't wanted to think about the holiday at all, to pretend it didn't exist. It certainly didn't for people like her.

"It's not like that between us…It can never be like that."

"Never say never…"

C.J. shook her head.

"I just did and I mean it," she said, "It's just a goodbye dinner that's all."

* * *

Matt worked on the computer in Dan's system at his firm. He'd had some time to kill after settling the business affairs with Roy back in L.A. and after meeting with Chris and Murray on the foundation. Dan had offered him a partnership with his securities firm but Matt had turned it down, wanting to head back to his investigative firm and its large caseload. Roy and Will had been doing the best they could but it was still backlogged needing him to take care of it.

He thought he'd be more enthusiastic about getting on his plane and flying back home but he'd been putting it off. Each day he considered it, he decided he needed to stay in Houston longer first to recover from his injuries and then to stay with C.J. until she got settled in her new life.

In recent days, she'd been reassuring him that she was doing just fine, she felt better every day even her damn wrist and if he needed or wanted to head on back to his own life he should just go.

He'd found himself resisting but he'd ran out of excuses and his business needed attention even with Roy and Will there.

"I still wish you'd reconsider," Dan said, "You've got an amazing set of skills and taking down one of the largest human trafficking operations is only the most recent example."

Matt sighed.

"I didn't do that…the feds and U.S. armies did," he said, "I just helped…along with many others."

Dan nodded.

"You got a lot of the information and you kept the feds from finding C.J."

"I did that because their own agencies were compromised from within," he said, "They had no way to protect her."

He had always wanted to protect her, it'd been almost instinctual to him since he first met her in the playground being bullied in the last year of elementary school. But she'd gotten the upper hand on the bullies pretty quickly though it resulted in her getting a week's suspension from school.

They'd become friends that week after he caught her fishing at his special spot where he'd come with his father. They'd remained friends for years though when he went on his sabbatical his feelings had changed…

"They've mostly been rounded up…but then comes the harder part."

Matt knew that would be what took place inside a courtroom…not to mention the decisions made in offices outside of it.

Chris breezed in and gave her husband a kiss.

"You better get ready," she said, "for later. You owe me some serious dancing."

Dan grinned.

"Well Houston you heard what the lady said," he said, "You sure C.J. and you don't want to join us?"

Matt shook his head.

"Nah we got our own plans…see you tomorrow," he said, "I'll finish up the specs then."

Dan nodded.

"That'll be great. "I'll see you then."

Matt began to pack up to leave the office to head back to the house to get ready for their dinner date. Date, he thought was a loaded word but he couldn't think of anything better as he headed to his car.


End file.
